JNU is innovative with regard to its academic structure, and the revision of curricula is continuous and an ongoing process. Revision of courses is an ongoing process in the academic structure. The revision is initiated by individual faculty member(s) depending on requirements with a view to keeping pace with the changing needs. Practically, in every Board meeting some of the old courses are revised and/or some new courses are introduced.

Keeping the spirit of the interdisciplinary character of the University, the courses are structured in such a way that in addition to the prescribed compulsory courses in the discipline concerned, the students are encouraged to opt for optional courses from other Centres/Schools to benefit from the faculty of other Centres/Schools. Unless a student obtains prescribed grades and credits in optional courses, he/she will not be qualified for award of degree.

The University follows semester system. Each course is for the duration of one semester and it is assigned a specific number of credits. The number of credits to be assigned to a course are determined by Board of School on the recommendation of the Centre concerned. Evaluation is done by the concerned course teacher with the exception of M. Phil dissertation and Ph. D. thesis. In the internal evaluation system, sessional work is assigned equal weightage with the end-semester examination. The pattern and schedule of sessional work is prescribed by the Board of School on the recommendation of the Centre concerned and is made known to students at the commencement of each semester. The University organises teaching through Lectures, Tutorials, Seminars, Termpapers etc. These assignments are linked with a course having a number of credits with prescribed contact hours.

Definitions :-

1. Course means a Semester Course

2. Credit (C) is the weightage assigned to a course in terms of Contact hours.

3. Grade means a letter grade assigned to a student on the basis of evaluation of a course on the ten point scale.

4. Grade Point (g) means the numerical equivalent of a letter grade assigned to a student in the ten point scale.

5. Semester Grade Point Average (SGPA) means a semester index grade of a student calculated in the following manner :

1. The system of evaluation for each course shall be laid down by the Board of the School on the recommendation on the Centre concerned.

2. For courses having a semester examination, sessional work shall carry the same weight as the semester examination.

3. The pattern and schedule of sessional work for each course of a semester shall be prescribed by the Board of the School, on the recommendation of the Centre concerned, and shall be made known to the students at the commencement of each semester.

4. The students shall be graded in each course on a 10 point scale, that is :

Grade

Grade Point

A+

9

A

8

A-

7

B+

6

B

5

B-

4

C+

3

C

2

C-

1

F

Fail

Note : There shall be no rounding off of SGPA/CGPA/FGPA

5. A student who fails in a course shall be required either to repeat that course or to clear another course in lieu thereof.

Explanation : A Student shall be required to repeat a course or clear another course in lieu thereof irrespective of his/her past performance in the sessionals if he/she has been awarded a final grade weighted grade of F in that course.

6. A student who secures a grade higher than F in a course may be permitted by the Centre to improve his/her grade by repeating that course once :

Provided further that a student who wants to repeat a course to improve his/her performance shall be allowed to do so only if he/she surrenders his/her earlier grade in the course by 16th August in case of the Monsoon Semester courses and by 1st February in case of the Winter Semester courses. Having surrendered his/her earlier grade by due date, it will be his/her repeat performance in the course which will be taken into account to compute the SGPA and the CGPA. His/her transcript will however, reflect appropriately both the performances and the fact that he/she had repeated the course/courses.

7. A Student will be required to maintain a C.G.P.A. of 3.0 (in core courses in the case of Languages Programmes and all courses in the case of other Programmes) at the end of the second semester and thereafter.

M. Phil :

It has both course work and dissertation. The course work will be completed in first two semesters followed by dissertation in the next two semesters. The entire M.Phil programme has to be completed in Four consecutive semesters.

The credit requirement for course work and dissertation is a minimum of 24 credits with at least 14 credits for the course work (including Research Techniques/Methodology and at least 6 credits for the dissertation).

Pre-Ph. D. programme : course work of minimum of 14 credits followed by thesis. The course work has to be completed in the first two semesters.

Direct Ph. D. generally no course work. However, depending up on the individual cases the Committee on Advanced Study and Research may prescribe some courses .

MCH and M.Tech. degrees are regulated in accordance with the provisions of the respective ordinance.

Evaluation :

Evaluation of course work will be done the same way as explained a earlier in the case of B.A. M.A./ M.Sc. programmes.

However, No repetition of course will be permitted. If one fails in a course he/she will be out of the programme.

A Student, enrolled in the M.Phil. Programme will be required to maintain a SGPA of 5.0 in the course work at the end of the First Semester (4.0 in the case of SC/ST students) and a CGPA of 5.0 at the end of the second semester i.e. at the end of the course work.

The dissertation will be evaluated by two examiners one the Supervisor and the other the external examiner. If both the examiners found the dissertation worthy of awarding degrees then they award the grade jointly after the viva-examination. ( In case if the viva is waived off then each one gives the grade and the average is taken as the grade for the dissertation).

A student will be required to obtain a CGPA of 5.50 to be eligible for the award of M.Phil Degree and must obtain a CGPA of 6.0 (5.50 in case of SC/ST students) to be eligible for confirmation to the Ph.D. programme

A student securing a CGPA of 6.5 in the course work can opt to skip the dissertation and M.Phil degree and can get confirmed to Ph.D programme at the end of the course work.

A student enrolled in the pre-Ph.D programme needs to obtain a CGPA of 6.50 (6.0 in the case of SC / ST Students) in the course work to get confirmed to the Ph.D programme.

The Ph.D thesis will be evaluated by two external examiners and based on the positive recommendations of both the examiners, a student is required to appear in the viva-voce examination to defend the thesis and based on the viva performance the degree is recommended and awarded.

JNU has successfully adopted and implemented the credit based continuous evaluation system.

Note :Details concerning various programmes of study offered at various Schools/Centres of Study and the eligibility conditions for admission to different programmes of study as well as special features of some of these programmes are given in the following pages. However, candidates who have obtained their Bachelors degree under the pattern of education other than 10+2+3 will be considered for admission to the Master's Programme if they have successfully completed the first year of Masters degree programme or a bridge course in lieu thereof, wherever prescribed, from a recognised University with prescribed percentage of marks.